


Look I know what happens in fake dating au's, and you know what, I'm willing to take that chance. (For the team.)

by crabsthinkfishfly



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith Pining, M/M, as as added bonus theres shadam, but only cause theyre all idiots, fake dating au, i know this is overused but, look its a prompt i sorta love this trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-03-20 01:03:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18982012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crabsthinkfishfly/pseuds/crabsthinkfishfly
Summary: Look. Keith had read the fanfictions, he knew what would happen if two best buds pretended to date. Keith was willing to take that chance. (God he had been waiting for so long to take that chance.)“Guys,” Keith announced, dumping his books on the table, “I have a problem.”“You always have problems, Keith,” Pidge scoffed, pushing her glasses back up her nose and turning to her phone.Or, Keith has a problem. And, much to Keith's horror, Lance is the solution.





	Look I know what happens in fake dating au's, and you know what, I'm willing to take that chance. (For the team.)

 

   Look. Keith had read the fanfictions, he knew what would happen if two best buds pretended to date. Keith was willing to take that chance. (God he had been waiting for so long to take that chance.)

 “Guys,” Keith announced, dumping his books on the table, “I have a problem.”

 “You always have problems, Keith,” Pidge scoffed, pushing her glasses back up her nose and turning to her phone.

 “What’s wrong?” Hunk asked.

 Keith sighed dramatically, “Okay, so you know Shiro, my foster dad?”

 Everyone nodded.

 “Yeah well I came out to him.”

 “Nice,” Lance said, clapping Keith on the shoulder.

 “Yeah, well, he’s gay so it wasn’t hard,” Keith shrugged. “That’s beside the point. The _problem_ is that Shiro asked if I had a boyfriend, and I panicked and said yes.”

 Hunk gaped, “Shit.”

 “Yeah, well. Now I gotta show him my boyfriend. And uh, I don’t actually _have_ a boyfriend.”

 Pidge looked up from her phone in interest, “Well, Keith,” She smirked, “Fake dating always works.”

 Keith glared at her (even though he wholly agreed,) “We both know that’s not how this works,” He hissed.

 “Hunk’s met Shiro and he knows Hunk’s straight. Do you wanna know who that leaves?” She teased.

 Keith buried his head in his hands, “Oh god, no.”

 “That leaves _Lance_.”

 Lance looked up, “Me?”

 God, Keith wanted to punch him. Or kiss him. At his point he was probably going to punch him.

 “Sure,” Lance shrugged. “But you owe me.”

 Keith crossed his arms, “Or, consider this, _we could not_.”

 “Understandable, have a nice day.”

 Hunk shook his head, “Pidge is right. It’s the only real way. And Lance, if you do it I’ll make you cookies. Keith, if you play nice I’ll make you cookies.”

 Keith looked away from Lance reluctantly, “Fine,” He threw up his arms, “You know what, fine! I’ll do it.”

 Pidge frowned, “You’re the one benefitting from this.”

 “Spending an excessive amount of time with Lance? Not likely.”

 Pidge just shook her head.

 Keith sighed and hiked his bag over his shoulder, “You know what? I’ll see you guys around. Lance, I’ll text you.”

 

 Keith was looking forward to it and fucking dreading the next morning. He got to see Lance, which was always a _trip_ , but he also had to pretend spending time with Lance was a bother.

 Because yeah, Lance was _annoying_ , but Keith had always had a soft spot for stupid, pretty boys. (And stupidly pretty boys _but that was besides the point_.)

 Lance was supposed to meet him five minutes ago, but he supposed Lance was always late so it was to be expected.

 Keith looked up at the rapid knocking at the door, and opened the door to find Lance grinning breathlessly (god it was making _him_ breathless.)

 Keith pretended to be annoyed, because if he didn’t he wouldn’t stop smiling, and if he didn’t stop smiling Lance would do that confused thing that Keith found adorable and if he did that Keith might just have to kiss him and _oh god_ if Keith kissed him…

 “You’re late.”

 Lance shrugged, “Yeah, but I almost forgot my Queen CDs.” He held out his arms and almost dropped the CDs he was cradling.

 “Excused,” Keith said, stepping outside. “Just know that I refuse to listen to anything else.”

 True to his word, Keith hadn’t listened to anything else. Not that Lance had complained.

 “Right, we’re here,” Keith grumbled, lurching out of the floor and _stretching._ God he needed a good stretch.

 “Everything is numb,” Lance yawned.

 Adam ran out onto the drive in bunny slippers, his hair rumples, “Keith! You’re here!”

 Lance finger gunned, “Hell yeah we are.”

 Adam turned to Lance, “Wow Keith _actually_ has a boyfriend.”

 Shiro came out and swatted him on the arm, “Don’t act so visibly surprised. We talked about this.”

 Keith frowned, “ _Visibly_?”

 Adam grinned sheepishly.

 Shiro rolled his eyes fondly, “Come on in. You can leave your stuff in your room.”

 Keith glanced up, “Room? Singular?”

 Shiro scoffed, “Keith, I’m not that old. It’s fine, I get it,” He started walking into the house, “Lance, you’ll get to see Keith’s old room.”

 Keith groaned and tugged on Lance’s arm, “Come on.” He closed the door behind them and spun ‘round.

 “Sorry about them. My room is this way, you can dump your shit,” He led Lance down the hall and kicked open the door. It creaked open pathetically.

 As soon as he’d done it Keith knew he’d made a mistake, and he didn’t exactly have enough time to run around and tear down all of his My Chemical Romance posters. It was too late anyway. Lance had seen them.

 Lance wouldn’t stop laughing.

 Keith shifted uncomfortably and snatched Lance’s bag from the ground, “There, all your shit is in there and we can leave.” Lance was laughing to hard to put up any resistance as Keith dragged him away.

 “We’re gonna explore,” Keith announced. “Trust me. There’s a forest, and it’s cool.”

 They were lost.

 To be fair, they’re gay and they don’t know directions.

 Keith _hadn’t_ done it on purpose, for the record, but he was pleased that he’d get to spend the time with Lance.

 Plus, they’d found a swimming hole, not the one they’d been looking for, but still, a swimming hole.

 Lance starts getting changed immediately. Like, just fuckin pulls his shirt over his head. He didn’t even leave Keith time to _prepare_ himself.

 The only way Keith would get out of this alive was if Keith didn’t look at Lance. No glancing over at Lance, otherwise, he’d go red and he couldn’t have _that_.

  The only way Keith would get out of this alive was if Keith didn’t look at Lance. No glancing over at Lance, otherwise he’d go red and he couldn’t have _that_.

  “Keith? You okay, buddy?”

  Keith was already red so obviously _not_ looking hadn’t done anything. And he didn’t trust himself to talk so he just stayed silent.

  Lance snickered, and _obviously_ he got _some_ of the picture, “Prude.”

  Keith just shook his head. 

  “So, anyway,” Lance said, his voice muffled, “What did you mean the other day when you told Pidge that ‘that’s not how this works’?”

  “What?”

  “You know, when you were complaining about your problem.”

  Keith raised his eyebrows in recognition, “ _Oh_. Yeah, well, that’s interesting.” He didn’t elaborate, and instead marched further into the treeline to get changed.

  Lance raised his eyebrow when Keith got back, “Interesting how?”

  Keith sighed and explained the fanfictions.

  Lance smirked, “What? Getting together?” He snickered, “Fucking nerd.”

  Keith grinned, “Oh, you’ll regret saying that, bitchboy.” He jumped on Lance (effectively tackling him which was a _mistake_.) (Everything was a mistake these days, let’s be honest.)

  Lance let himself go down with Keith, before twisting around right at the last minute, so he was on top. 

  Keith shrieked as soon as he hit the water. He glanced up and- _oh_. 

  He went red ( _again_ ) because shit he was under Lance and goddamn Lance is so pretty. Keith grimaced because fucking of course he was in this position (which he’d thought about for a long time) and he couldn’t _do_ anything.

  “Oh, hey,” Lance scrambled off Keith, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  Keith shook his head, “Uh, nothing,” Instead he pointed over to a blackened tree stump just beyond the treeline, “That looks familiar is all.”

 

***

 

  They made it out alive afterall.

  They stumbled back to the house and flung the door open. There was a thump and a shriek.

  They ran inside to find Shiro laughing his ass off and Adam grumbling from the floor. Adam had been jumpscared by Keith and Lance’s unexpected arival and promptly fallen onto the floor.

  Shiro tripped over Adam and made his way over to Keith and Lance, “Lance hasn’t seen the beach out here, has he?” He asked Keith, “There you go. Wonderful. Show him that.”

  Keith pouted, “Are you guys trying to keep us out of the house?”

  Adam shifted uncomfortably.

  Keith’s eyes widened, “And we’re leaving! Bye!” He grabbed Lance’s hand and dragged him out of the house.

  Lance shut the door behind him and laughed. Yeah. Fucking laughed. “Oh?” Lance smirked, “Uncomfortable with the idea that your dads are--”

  Keith clamped a hand over Lances mouth, “Yes. Okay? _Yes_. It’s different when it’s your parents.”

  He unlocked the car and slammed his head against the wheel a few times. He glanced at Lance and groaned.

  “Where are you going?”

  “The beach, remember? You coming or not?”

  Lance shrugged, “The beach sounds nice. So long as it’s not one of those shitty pebble ones. You know, I had a shitty pebble beach back in-”

  “It’s not a shitty pebble beach.”

  “Ah,” Lance said. “Cool.”

  The beach was in town, which was fifteen minutes away. It sounded like a long drive, but it really wasn’t. At least - it wasn’t _usually_.

  Keith supposed it was bound to feel a little longer when you were in the car with someone who barely talked to you.

  Which, yeah, was unusual because Lance _never stopped talking_.

  “Here,” Keith said, flinging open the car door.

  “Wow, really?” Lance deadpanned, staring at Keith.

  “Hah,” Keith said, pulling off his shirt. Honestly that swim back in the forest was helpful (even though it meant _more_ swimming). Saved him the trouble of getting changed.

  Only problem was that _oh god Lance is shirtless_ again feeling which Keith hadn’t actually had before. You know, given that he’d never seen Lance shirtless before.

  “Race you there, I guess,” Keith said over his shoulder, already running across the hot sand.

  “Yeah, um, how are your feet not burning alive?” Lance yelled back against the wind.

  “They are!” Keith called, “It’s nice!”

  Keith reached the waterline first, and he turned around just in time to see Lance running at him, full speed and tackling him.

  “Second time,” Keith complained, spitting out sand.

  Lance just stood there, smiling smugly.

  Keith pretty much had to teach Lance what one does at the beach (not that he was complaining).

  Body surfing, jumping over waves, diving under waves. You name it, Lance didn’t know how to do it.

  Lance somehow made it into a competition, right down to the whole _see who makes it back to the car first_ ordeal.

  “You started it,” Lance pointed out when Keith tried to protest.

  Keith shrugged, “Yeah, well.”

  “So you think we’ve waited long enough?”

  Keith checked the time, “Oh, yeah. Dinner should be ready by now.”

  “Your parents still cook you dinner?” Lance asked. He was teasing now. Teasing was good. At least this time he wasn’t silent. Read: it wouldn’t be as awkward.

  Hopefully.

  “I dunno,” Keith said, “I’d consider cooking something for you, but it depends on whether or not you like burnt pasta.”

  Lance shrugged, “To be fair I’d probably settle for none pizza with left beef.”

  “That meme is dead.”

  “Oh yeah, no, I know.”

  Keith narrowed his eyes and continued driving. Yes, he considered crashing the car to rid himself of dead memes, but Lance might live and file a lawsuit. Keith couldn’t afford that.

  Plus, you know, _Lance_. 

  And yes, through a lot of willpower Lance arrived at Keith’s house safely, unaware of any threat to his life.

  “Dinner’s ready you ungrateful swine,” Shiro said from inside, looking decidedly pink, his hair decidedly mussed up.

  Yeah Keith wasn’t going to think about that.

  “Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit,” Adam muttered, glancing around, looking frazzled.

  “Is he okay?” Lance whispered.

  Keith shrugged, “Hard to say. It’s possible that his favourite character just died.”

  “Which character?”

  Keith shrugged.

  They ate, Shiro asked about their relationship, we won’t get into it. We also won’t get into the fact that Keith insisted he could sleep on the floor. Because, you know, _reasons_.

  And -- ok, yes, they were closer, Keith supposed. But he’d been counting on it working like the fanfictions. Which -- it hadn’t, so.

  “We’re leaving tomorrow.” Lance said later that night, his arms pillowing his head as he stared up at the ceiling.

  “Yep. I’ll finally be rid of you.”

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Lance said wistfully. He propped himself up, “It’s been fun, though. It has, I’m not going to lie.”

  “Yeah?” Keith smiled. “Glad to hear it.”

  “You know you can talk to me?”

  “Rapid change of subject, but ok.”

  “No I mean it,” Lance said. “You’ve been acting super weird, so I just want you ot know that if there’s anything wrong, you can  _ tell _ me.”

  “Super weird how?”

  “I don’t know. Quiet. Distant. You barely look at me.”

  Keith released a breath and squeezed his eyes shut, “Yeah no - yeah it’s just that… urgh lying to Adam and Shiro is stressing me out, that’s all,” He lied. It was better than the truth. What  _ was  _ the truth, anyway? ‘ _ I have a stupid crush on you, and I’m scared to spend so much time with you in case I do something I regret’ _ ? Yeah, no.

  Lance hummed, “Okay. Good night, Keith.”

  “Good night,” Keith whispered, ignoring the erratic beat of his heart.

 

  “What, you don’t think we should, I don’t know, get some  _ sleep  _ before we go and confront the others?”

  “No,” Lance grinned smugly, “And you owe me.”

  “For what?” Lance just stared at him until he got the message. “ _ Oh _ ! Fine. Why do you even want to see them anyway?”

  “They’re our friends,” Lance pouted. “Besides,” He snatched up Keith’s hand. “I have a plan.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Don’t you think it’d be funny if we pretended to date?”

  “Okay, first of all,” Keith said, “We’ve  _ just  _ been doing that. Second, Pidge would  _ freak out _ .”

  “That’s the point.”

  And really everything is normal. The only real difference is that Pidge kept shooting smug looks over at Keith, and Lance wouldn’t let go of Keith’s hand.

  They didn’t talk long, but then, everyone had things to do and Keith was tired.

  Once they were out of sight Keith tried to drop Lance’s hand. “C’mon, man, what now? Let go.”

  Lance’s eyes sparkled, “Ok, but what if we  _ still  _ pretend to date? Or better yet - date for real?”

  Keith smiled, “Are you asking me out?”

  “I’m not very good at this,” Lance said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Well, whatever.  _ Yes _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah!! i finished it yay!! i recently watched IT (2017) and it made me (for some reason) really want to write fanfic again.
> 
> ADDITIONALLY - COME SCREAM AT ME ON TUMBLR IF YA WANT B) my url is @crabsthinkfishfly


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